For centuries Native Americans had been forced from their lands in the east and were told that eventually they would have a place out west where they could live in peace and call their own. After years of broken promises the tribes in Indian Territory decided the best way to preserve their way of life was to become a state.
The 1920’s and 30’s were a time of bathtub gin and jazz, but in Oklahoma, it was also a time of bootleggers, outlaws, and gangsters. OETA’s award winning documentary series Back in Time looks beyond the legends to examine why the state was so attractive to outlaws and how with the help of newspapers and radio, they captured the imagination of the people along Oklahoma’s Gangster Road.
Far from the coast and deep within the country Oklahomans have believed they had more to fear from a storm than an invading army, but for the 45 years of the cold war, from 1947 to 1991, Oklahoma was high on the Soviet hit list.
Long before oil, coal was Oklahoma’s first energy boom. Immigrants came to Indian Territory who went into the mines and dug in the dark, it was a dirty and dangerous way to eke out a meager living. OETA’s award winning documentary series Back in Time looks to a time when coal barons became rich while miners would go to work before sunrise and come home after dark.
On the 75th anniversary of The Grapes of Wrath we look at the historical realities for the migrant farmers who were hard hit by the great depression. This book was Steinbeck’s monument to the migrant farmers he met while working as a journalist in California. We take you to the 1930’s Dust bowl Oklahoma to show you the bravery of the Okies as they battle the hardships of the great depression.
The Civil Rights movement brings about images of Selma and Montgomery, but few people know that Oklahoma has it’s own civil rights pioneers. People like Roscoe Dungee, Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, and Clara Luper are some for the names that vigorously pursued the cause of equal rights in Oklahoma. Join us as we go back in time to Oklahoma’s fight for Civil Rights.
Deep inside the Cherokee Strip on the banks of the Salt Fork River was once a cattle ranch that stretched over four counties, 110-thousand acres of the most unusual operation in America. The Miller brothers, Joe, George and Zack thrilled audiences’ around the world with their Wild West Show. OETA’s documentary series Back in Time looks at the empire upon the prairie called The 101 Ranch.
The founding of the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is the story of a man’s dream to honor the spirit of the West. Chester Reynold’s wanted a museum to honor the pioneers, cowboys, and Native Americans who helped define the idea of the American West. The Museum now holds the world’s finest collections of western art and memorabilia.
Created in response to Jim Crow and segregation, Langston University has struggled through severe legal, economic, and political restrictions for over 100 years. In the face of opposition the once all-black college has given generations of students a step up to a better life. Back in Time looks at Langston University’s role in the civil rights movement and its many famous alumni.
Penn Square Bank was a small suburban with close to 30 million in assets. Then an oil boom in the Anadarko Basin of Oklahoma generated a flood of oil men looking for loans. Overnight Penn Square Bank grew to a bank with assets of close to half a billion dollars. However, reckless lending would lead to a catastrophic downfall that would bring down some major banking institutions of the time.
Back in Time takes a look at the life of one of Oklahoma’s own famous aviator Wiley Post. From humble beginnings on a farm in Maysville, Oklahoma Wiley Post would become one of the most famous people in the world before the end of his life. His love for aviation started in the flying circuses that would tour the country side. He would later become the first pilot to fly around the world solo.
A unique aspect of Oklahoma history is the land runs that took place in the last decades of the 19th century. The events have become almost mythological in nature. The have been portrayed in several movies and in literature. Back in Time looks at the real history behind these events. The people who participated in these contests for land would go on to help found the State of Oklahoma.
Three women who helped shape Oklahoma history. Kate Barnard was the first women elected to political office in Oklahoma. Bertha Teague was the winningest high school basketball coach in Oklahoma history. She helped to change the game of girls basketball forever. Wanda Bass was a banker from McAlester who spent her time and fortune trying to make her community and state a better place to live.
Many Oklahoma Soldiers didn’t come back from World War 1. They left behind children who needed a place to stay and people to care for them. A Ponca City oilman, E.W. Marland, teamed with the American Legion to create a children’s home in Ponca City that continues to this day. In this “Back In Time,” Children Brought together by war, poverty, and a shared history that grew into One Big Family.
Thousands of refugees escaped Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Fearing the brutal treatment of the communist forces they made their way to freedom in a new country. They came as refuges to America to start a new life often times with nothing but the few belongings they were able to take with them. Back in Time speaks to these refugees about their stories of how they came from Vietnam to Oklahoma.
Father Stanley Rother found his life’s calling at a mission in Guatemala. He became very close to the people of the mountain village, but his compassion made him a target. In July 1981, he was brutally murdered in the rectory of the church. In September Father Rother was beatified in Oklahoma City by a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and is on a path to being recognized as a saint.
OETA’s award winning documentary series Back in Time introduces us to three very different men. Bass Reeves, was a runaway slave that became the first black US Marshall and may have inspired “The Lone Ranger.” Moman Pruiett was a shady frontier lawyer who won 304 murder cases & was called “The Murder’s Messiah.” Don Porter, who took softball from the playground and got it into the Olympics, twice.
When Europeans settled in the new world, many Indians noticed the newcomers could communicate through writing. Most believed it was sorcery, but Sequoyah created a system of writing the Cherokee language. Soon, more Cherokees could read and write than the white settlers. The story of Sequoyah, the man who invented the Cherokee syllabary and unraveled the mystery of the “Talking Leaves.”
The romantic image of the old west, of cattle drives and trail hands riding the range, has captured imaginations for over a century. The Chisholm Trail is the most famous of many trails that brought hundreds of thousands of cattle from Texas through Oklahoma to the railheads in Kansas. Beef is bigger than ever and continues to drive the economy of Oklahoma’s “Cow Town.”
Oklahoma has a distinction of having an Astronaut in every phase of the space program. Mercury, Gemini, Apollo to the moon, Sky lab, the space shuttle and building the International Space Station. Back on Earth, it was engineers and mathematicians’ from Oklahoma that made it possible to send them to the moon and get them back alive. Back in Time blasts off with Oklahoma’s Space Pioneers.
Nearly 600-hundred thousand Oklahomans fought in WWI and WWII, many making the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. Most of these soldiers were laid to rest in beautiful cemeteries on foreign soil, too far for loved ones to visit. One Oklahoma man’s mission is to make sure they aren’t forgotten, he visits their graves, and he always leaves behind “A Piece of Home.”
“Catch’em Alive Jack Abernathy,” an Oklahoma man who can capture wolves alive with his bare hands, fascinates Teddy Roosevelt. Abernathy’s young sons, Bud and Temple, inherit Jack’s adventurous spirit and make epic journeys across the growing country meeting American icons of the day. Bud and Temple were famous; yet, most have never heard the lost adventures of the “Abernathy Boys.”
Oklahoma history is filled with events and people that changed the world. Like the pioneering woman who fought for prisoners and the poor, a wild west lawyer they called the Murderer’s Messiah, and a traditional Kiowa woman who keeps the old ways alive. Three very different people whose Names You Should Know.
After months of staying inside, many Oklahomans are dying to get out and enjoy the summer sun. Robert Burch and the Back in Time crew are taking a road trip to visit the many historic sites across the state, while staying safe. Green markers dot the state highways and back roads, telling the complex and fascinating tales of our state’s past. Join us as we explore Oklahoma's Roadside History. (395)
Just below the tall grass of the Osage reservation was an ocean of oil, it made every member of the tribe a millionaire and a target. In the 1920’s, hundreds of Osage Indians were dying in mysterious circumstances. Shady characters from all over came to strip it from them any way they could. It took the birth of the FBI to end what was called “The Reign of Terror.”
Follow the events which transpired after the worst act of domestic terrorism in the nation's history. Look into the FBI files, meet the investigators who tracked McVeigh and Nichols, and learn about wild conspiracy theories surrounding the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
